The wild ride of Tim Tebow and the Broncos has been stopped cold. They were put away absurdly by the Patriots on a long and bitter wintry night in New England.

It was the Broncos’ most brutal postseason defeat since the 55-10 shellacking to the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIV. And it was the second time Tebow finished on the downside of a 45-10 beating.

“I feel like I learned a lot this season,” said a somber Tebow, whose cheeks were beet- and beat-red. He then said he was still learning at the end what it will take “to get back here again.”

Throughout, Tebow looked more lost than found. And the Broncos as a whole were “not up to par,” coach John Fox said. They weren’t up to playing. But “I’m as proud of this team as any I’ve ever been around.”

The Broncos were Bradysized and Gronked. With 6:40 remaining in the third quarter, the entire stadium shook to the strains of “Te-Bow, Te-Bow.”

Tebow was not being praised.

On the very next play he was punished.

Defensive end Shaun Ellis slammed Tebow to the grass. As he went down hard, you should have heard ’em.

Tom Brady wannabe Tim Tebow couldn’t begin to be anything like the Patriots’ extraordinary quarterback Saturday night. He suffered in comparison and in the deep freeze.

Brady completed his first eight passes and was 26-of-34 overall for 363 yards and a half dozen — yes, six — touchdowns. Tebow was 9-of-26 for 136 yards, no touchdown and no life.

The Patriots’ tight ends, Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, exploited and exposed the pass-poor, porous Broncos secondary for 18 catches, 200 yards and four touchdowns. Occasionally lining up in the backfield, Hernandez led the Patriots in rushing with five carries for 61 yards.

Fox said the Broncos had seen Hernandez as a running back before “even though it didn’t look like it.”

The Broncos and Tebow didn’t target their tight ends once until there was 7:34 left. Daniel Fells and Dante Rosario — each thrown to once — zeroed out.

This playoff game, which started at 8:15 Eastern time, was over in 8:18 of football time.

So it was a sweet-and-sour season for the Broncos — an awful 1-4 start, an incredible 6-1 run, an ugly 0-3 finish to the regular season, the beautiful upset over the Steelers, the humiliating loss to the Patriots.

Can’t say it hasn’t been eerie.

“It’s not like we lost to some bums,” cornerback André Goodman said. Or some Chiefs. “We lost to a great team and a three-time Super Bowl quarterback, so we have something to build on next year.”

The Broncos’ defense and coaches had no solution for the tight ends, wherever they were lined up.

It was a shooting gallery at the amusement park for Brady, who wasn’t rushed, hassled or worried. “They have some pretty good pass rushers, some good cover guys. I thought we just executed well. That catch Gronk made (diving, one-handed) for a touchdown in the corner was one of the best I’ve ever seen. When you’re making plays like that, it’s really not about the defense,” Brady said.

But the loss was about the superiority of the Patriots and the Broncos’ inferior effort in, as Tebow admitted, a season “of up and downs.”

He was rushed, rattled and rocked — and the coaching staff thought that Tebow might be hurt for the first time this season. He said he wasn’t about to come out of the game, though.

Didn’t matter. When Tebow had time, he either threw on the run wickedly, or the receivers dropped the ball.

Willis McGahee could run (76 yards), but Tebow couldn’t hide. The Patriots flopped him on five sacks and held him to just 13 yards on five runs. Gerard Warren, the former Broncos defensive lineman, said the Patriots played “technically sound” against the young quarterback.

As well as the Broncos and Tebow played against the No. 1 defense in the league a week ago, they played that badly against one of the league’s most mediocre defenses Saturday night.

The Broncos can be ashamed of the last photo, but satisfied at the big picture. Nothing was expected of them at the beginning, but they managed to make it this far.

WASHINGTON — Thirty games into the 82-game NHL season, and nearly six weeks after the Matt Duchene trade, Avalanche general manager Joe Sakic discussed the state of his team before Tuesday’s 5-2 loss at the Washington Capitals.